Walnut hulling and washing machine.



No. 7333160. I PATENTED JULY 7, 1903.

, a. F. MAIERS.

WALNUT HULLING AND WASHING MAGHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 001223, 1902.

T0 vaZZ whomit may concern:

ISTATES' Patented July '7, 1903,

PATENT OFFICE- ,WALNUT HULLING AND WASHING MACHINE.

srnczricrirxon form f 4; m of Letters Patent no; 733,060, dated Jur 7,190s.

1 Be it known that L'Gnonen F. Mamas, a 'eitizen'of the United States,residing at Go leta, in the county of Santa Barbara and State offialifornia, have invented a new and usefulVValnut llulling and \Vashingllrlachine, of which the following is a specification.

This :invention relates to an improved machine for hulling and washingwalnuts; and it consists in certain improvements and the construction ofthe same, to be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointedout in the claims, referencc'being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhichlfigure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed inaccordance with the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalvertical sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 a vertical transversesectional view taken on "the lined 3, Fig. 2.

Corresponding parts in the several figures arein d icated bysimilar numerals of reference. 'lhc casing lof my improved hulling and Washingmachine is supported by means of legs 2, secured to the sides of thecasing, near the front and rear edges of the same, as shown. Said.casing,'which is preferably in the 'form of a narrow rectangular box, ispro- 'vided with a slidable and removable bottom 3,

supported upon cleats 4, connecting the front and the rear legs inpairs, said cleats being disposed transversely, as shown, slightly belowthe lower edges of theside's of the casing. .The casing is providedatthe upper front corner thereof with a discharge-chute comprisinganincllned board5 andsidc pieces 6.

Pivotally mounted inthe upper part of the eaning, near the frontendthereot', is a feed board 7, which extended toward the rear side ofthe-cad ,rxninating at a suitable distance from"sa direar side, so as toadmit thev passage of unl nllcd nuts of ordinary size.

'liuii'i'eecn'd of thoi d looard 7 is supported ank 8, form 1 upon ashaftl), which is jourin-tic'd transv rscly ihlthe sides ofthe casingand which is provided at one end with a handle 10,- byineans ofwhieh itmaybe manipulated so as to. agitate the feed-board whencvcrthe 'nuts'shall exhibita tendency to log,tl1us permitting the feed to progressunintcrruptedlywhen the device is in operation. V.

Application filed Ootober 23, 1902. Serial No. 128,495. (No model.)

" Within the casing 1 is formed a cage composed of a plurality oftransversely-disposed bars 11, preferably made of iron or other suitablemetal and square or rectangular in crosssection, so as to present sharpcorners. These bars connecting the sides of the casing will cooperatewith the latter to form a cage into which the nuts are conducted fromthe feedplate 7 by means of a deflector 12, secured to the rear side ofthe casing. naled in the sides of the casing, carries a hub 14, providedwith a plurality of radiating flexible teeth 15, which may beconstructed of steel rods or wire and which project in the direction ofthe cage-bars 11. The shaft 13 may be disposed concentrically within thecage, although I prefer as indicated in Fig. 1, to locate it slightlycccen'trically in the direction of the upper front corner of the cage.The bars of the latter are to be placedcloscly enough together toprevent the passage between them of a hulled walnut. At the ceiving endthe distance between the cagebars and the ends or points of the flexibleteeth 15 should be suflicicnt .to admit unhulled walnuts of a largesize. The teeth 15 are preferably to be placed sufficiently closetogether to support hulled walnuts upon the points thereof, or, in otherwords, to prevent the walnuts from entering between said teeth.

The. toothed wheel or hub ll is operated by means of a crank 16 upon oneend of the shaft 1 3. The opposite end of said shaft may be providedwith a gcar-wheel-l'i, meshing with a pinion 18, mounted upon astub-axle 19, which also carries a pulley 20. This pullcy when thedevice is operatedby hand acts as a balance-wheel; but it may also beemployed to receive u'lotion by means of a belt or band from a suitablesource of power, as will be readily umlerstood.

21 designates a deflecting-plate which is pivotally mounted above thetoothed wheel and below the feed-plate '7, near the front end of'thelatter. The shaft 22, upon which said plate is mounted, is provided atone end with a handle :33, adapted to engage a retaining deriee 24 uponthe-side of the casing, where- "b the said dcllcctin )latc ma beretained h l y either in an approximately vertical or an ap- A shaft 13joinseen, respectively, in. full and in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of thedrawings. When this deflecting-plate is in a horizontal position, thenuts will be carried bythe revolving toothed wheel past the said plateand back to the inlet of the cage. hen the deflecting-plate is in a"ertical position, the nuts will be intercepted thereby,- and willconsequently be discharged over the chute 5.

The operation of this invention will be readily understood. lVhenunhulled nuts are fed into the machine, the hulls will be disintegratedby the joint action of the cage-bars 11. and the spring-teeth 15, thebulls being permitted to escape at the bottom, the bottom plate 3 beingtemporarily removed. After the nuts have been hulled the bottom plate 3is placed in position and the box or casing is partially filled withwater. The unhulled nuts being now passed through the machine willreceive a thorough washing and any particles of the hulls still adheringto them will be removed by this second operation. By feeding only acertain quantity of nuts to the machine at any one time, according toits capacity, the operation may by properly adj usting the deflectingplate 21 be continued for any desired length of time upon the same batchof nuts until the latter shall be considered to have been sufficientlytreated. When, on the other hand, the nuts are in such a condition as toyield readily to treatment, the operation may be continuous.

I have in the foregoing described what I consider to be the preferredconstruction of my invention; but I desire it to be understood that I donot limit myself with regard to the details of the same, but reserve theright to any structural changes and modifications which may be resortedto without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention ordetracting from the utility of the same. Moreover, the utility of themachine is not limited to the treatment of walnuts, inasmuch as bymaking necessary modifications as to the proportion and relativedisposition of the parts it may be used equally well for hulling othernuts, such as are provided with after being dried, again be run throughthe machine until the adhering fibers are entirely removed and theshells left clean and free from fibers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a device ofthe classdescribed, an approximately .segmental cage composed ofsharp-cornered transverse bars connecting the sides of the casing, incombination with a hub mounted revolublywithin said cage and havingflexible teeth extending radially in the direction of the cage-bars, afeed-plate, a deflector directing the discharge from said feed-plateinto the cage, and a deflectingplate mounted pivotally above thedischarge end. of the cage.

2. In a device of the class'described, the combination of a casing, acage within the same, a flexibly-toothed wheel mounted revolubly in saidcage slightly eceentrieallywith relation thereto, a pivotally-mountedfeedboard, a deflector directing the discharge from the latter into thecage, a discharge-chute at the opposite end of the latter, and a pivoteddeflecting-plate arranged below the feed-plate and adapted to interceptthe material fed between the-casing and the-toothed Wheel and todischarge the same over the dischargechute.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence of two-witnesses.

GEORGE FJMAIERS.

\Vitnesses:

Gno. W. RUSSELL, GRANT J AoKsoN.

